Chekhov Exercises

The Actors Body Exercise: Wide Movements -make a series of wide broad movements; utilizing whole body and space around you enact the following: -open your self completely, expanded position, return to neutral, imagine yourself becoming larger and larger, repeat I am going to awaken the sleeping muscles of my body, I am going to revivify and use them -now close yourself, contracted position, kneel, cross arms and head to floor imagine becoming smaller and smaller, wanting to disappear, space is shrinking around you -thrust body forward on one leg, stretch out arms; now make movement sideways and stretch on left and right side -like a blacksmith, beat a hammer upon an anvil -make different well-shaped full movements: throwing stuff in different directions; lifting objects from ground; holding it high above ground; dragging, pushing, and tossing use sufficient strength, moderate tempo, avoid dancing, Breath, pause after each moment Goals: freedom and increased life. Let sink in as psychophysical qualities to absorbed Exercise: Center in Chest -imagine a center in chest, through it flows the impulses for all movement -center is source of inner activity and power in body -let sensations of strength, harmony, and well being penetrate whole body. No blockages; let energy flow freely, joints are designed to give limbs freedom -movement of arms and legs originate in center make series of movements: lift arms, stretch them, walk, sit down, etc. all movement is instigated by power flowing from center -let power precede the movement send out impulse, then complete it. Center is few inches in front let body follow the center -let power flow and radiate beyond boundaries of body into space around you power must also follow Goals: smooth, graceful, artistic movement, Ideal body type, overcome self-consciousness, experience strong feeling of stage presence Exercise: Molding -as before, make wide broad movements: -say to self like a sculptor, I mold the space surrounding me, in the air around me I leave forms chiseled by the movements of my body -create strong and definite forms think and feel your body as a movable form -image air as medium that resists you change tempos -use different parts of body only shoulders, back, elbows, hands, fingers -avoid unnecessary muscular tension -do everyday movement and business preserving the center, and combining sensations of strength, molding power and form -pour power into objects you contact, extend power to others -spend power lavishly it is inexhaustible, the more you give the more it will accumulate -conclude by training hands and fingers separately, try to: take, move, lift up, touch -say to yourself Every movement I make is a little piece of art, my body is a fine instrument for producing molding movements and creating form. Through my body I convey my inner power and strength Goals: create forms in whatever you do. To understand that vagueness and shapelessness have no place in art

Exercise: Floating -begin with broad movements, then with natural ones, and then with just hands and fingers -say to your self My movements are floating in space, merging gently, and beautifully one into another -simple well shaped movements -let them ebb and flow like big waves -imagine air as surface of water which supports you and over which your movements lightly skim -change tempos, pause from time to time -consider movements as pieces of art Goals: sensations of calm, poise, and psych warmth will be rewards, preserve sensations and let them fill you body Exercise: Flying -imagine whole body flying through space -each of them continues in space indefinitely, flies away from you, departing from your physical body -imagine whole body has tendency to lift itself from ground -movement must merge into each other without becoming shapeless -psych must maintain your strength -may become static outwardly, but inwardly must continue feeling of soaring aloft -imagine air around you as medium that instigates flying movements, element of air stirs and urges you -desire to overcome weight of body, fight law of gravity -change tempos -preserve truthfulness and simplicity of everyday movements Goals: sensations of joyful lightness and easiness permeates body Exercise: Radiating -standard chain of movements -imagine that invisible rays stream from your movements into space -continuously and in advance, send the rays form your body into the space around you, in direction of movement and after each movement -radiation must precede and follow movements -have to desire to go out and beyond boundaries of physical body -send rays in different directions, all at once, from various parts of body -fill entire space around you with radiations -imagine air around you is filled with light -radiate and send out inner activity during movements -avoid mistaking physical tension for radiation -to give, to send out Goals: sensation of existence and significance of inner being. Sensation of freedom, happiness, and inner warmth permeates body, making it more alive, sensitive, and responsive Exercise: Flowing -every movement is slurred into another in an unbroken line -movements are well shaped but have no beginning nor end -flow into each other organically -character of movement must be wavelike, growing, and subsiding -element of air must be felt around you, as if it were supporting the surface of a wave -use simple movements of other exercises, move onto own improvisations Exercise: Ease -concentrate on quality of lightness and ease -embrace attitude My upright position frees me from the earth on which I stand. My inner inclination is upward not downward - concentrate firmly

-make different simple movements, repeating them trying to get them easier and lighter until you awaken a complete feeling of Ease. Inner strength must be present, even in lightest of movements. Start with smaller movements than proceed to larger and wider expansion -grace is ease in force -when feeling of Ease becomes permanent, you will use it unconsciously -ease relaxes body and spirit Exercise: Form -start with molding movements -whatever you do or say must have a clear beginning and a definite end -do not start or finish movements or words in a vague, sluggish way -really good form can only be produced inside of you -emphasize this inner aspect of the form you produce and see that they do not become dead, empty shells Exercise: Form (2) -stand still and realize that the body is form -then walk in imagination with attention focused with body as if molding it from inside and also outside -realize each limb of body is a peculiarly built form -then move fingers, hands, arms, realizing that body is a movable form -motion itself prevents you from being formless at any moment while you are moving Exercise: Culmination -after thorough practice and mastery of previous exercises -try to reproduce these movements in your imagination only -repeat until you can easily dissipate the same psych and physical sensations you experienced while actually moving Exercise: Beauty -observe all kinds of beauty in human beings, art, and nature -ask why does it strike me as beautiful Its harmony? Sincerity? Simplicity? Color? Moral Value? Strength? Gentleness? Significance? Originality? Ingenuity? Selflessness? Idealism? Mastery? Etc -mind and body will accumulate beauty and sharpen your ability to detect it everywhere it becomes habit -simple, broad movements trying to do them with beauty which rises from within you, until entire body is permeated and begins to feel a deep aesthetic satisfaction -purpose it to fathom beauty deep within your self -resist temptation to appear beautiful Goals: through long and patient observation a sense of true beauty and fine artistic taste becomes responsive in you Exercise: Beauty (2) -start with simple movements and listen attentively within you to the pleasure, the satisfaction, your limbs experience while moving -move at first slowly, sifting away everything but the natural-born feeling of beauty -avoid all weakness, sweetness, and sentimentality in your movement and do not neglect the inner strength -let the feeling grow of itself -resist the temptation to increase of stress the subtle vibrations of beauty -let these vibrations radiate freely and fill the air around you with beauty -the noble satisfaction you experience will keep all selfish elements beyond the threshold. Selfishness on the stage kills real beauty -proceed to more complicated movements, words, and improvisations

Imagination, Incorporation of Images, and Concentration Exercise: Architecture -look at any classical architecture forms of different styles. Study them. Follow their lines, forms, dimensions: try to experience their weight, the interplay of power of gravity. Study the connections of the separate parts. Try to guess their function, to support, to lift, to suspend. What is the main character of the whole? Is it stressing upward, does it cover and protect, does it want to vibrate, to fly away, to contract? -do it freely and intuitively. Thus you will find many ways to penetrate it deeply into the architectural form to experience it -most of all, enjoy its beauty -then ask yourself how it would look if elements were changed -how would it look if? (I.e. the arch became square, the roof flat) -from such questioning you will receive a shock, sometimes humorous Exercise: Fairy Tales/Biographies -the best material for developing a good sense of artistic truth is offered in authentic folk or fairy tales -they depict destinies, sufferings, heroism, downfalls, growth and development, mistakes, inner defeats, and final victories of individuals and mankind -they are true human psychology, true history, and they prophesy in tragic and humorous pictures -fairy tales have fixed logic, from a time when the wisdom of humanity was fixed in the images and symbols that we find in fairy tales -ancients saw them as the outer expression of inner truth and wisdom -the fairy tale and its ancient motifs comes through the rise and fall of people, and through the rise and fall of different world outlooks -read or recreate a fairy tale -the images and events will of their own volition work in your creative subconscious, gradually implanting a sense of truth in you -read biographies of notable people -follow their destinies by imagining their lives. Let their destinies live in you. Will increase and refine your sense of truth -as an artist you must believe in an objective wisdom interfering with human fate -on stage you have to deal with destinies of your characters and if you want to play a character in a fine, masterly way, you must conceive it as a panorama of destiny -images accidentally put together will react upon you as tasteless and amateurish productions Exercise: Flexibility of Images -imagine events of mobility and transformation: a castle under a spell, a poor beggar woman turning into a witch, a princess becoming a spider, a young person aging (vice versa), a seed growing into a tree, so on -do not skip any of the stages of transformation Exercise: Independent Image Development -choose any episode in fairy tale. Imagine it fully. Leave it a day and then return. You will notice a period of secret growth, the images will have moved on to new situations, fresh inner attitudes, bringing new contributions from their own world. Look for more complicated, more detailed fulfillment -ask questions of them (I.e. did they become more passionate or calm -images pass through two spheres 1) they are directly influenced by your creative gaze 2) they develop independently with your assistance Exercise: Image Workout -start with recollections of simple, impersonal events, not of own emotions or inner real life experiences. Concentrate, do not break flow of images -train yourself in catching the very first image the moment it appears before your minds eye

-take a book, open a page, read a word and see what image it conjures. Imagine rather than lifeless abstract conceptions. Abstractions are of very little use to a creative artist -having caught an image, look at it and wait until it begins to move, to change, to speak and to act on its own. Realize each image has its own independent life. Dont interfere, just follow -after a while begin to interfere by asking questions or giving orders. Show me how you sit? Use orders if necessary -proceed with questions and orders of a psychological nature. How do you appear in despair? A happy mood? Laugh, Cry, etc -ask questions many times as you have to, until your image shows you what you want to see -alternate between giving the image freedom and then making demands again -now do same exercise with a scene from a play -explore various interpretations -you will learn to collaborate with your image, while working on a part -try to learn to penetrate through the outer manifestation of an image into its inner life -your images can never have secrets from you. Why? Because however new and unexpected your images may be, they are after all, your own creations, their inner experiences are your own -they often reveal to you feelings, emotions and desires of which you were not aware of before you started using your creative imagination, but from deep levels of your subconscious life they have emerged and are nonetheless yours -train yourself to watch the images as long as it is necessary to become affected by their emotions, desires, feelings, and all else they have to offer. Until you yourself begin to feel and wish what your image feels and wishes -then take an image and test the flexibility of it by making it transform slowly -dont allow images to jump from one stage to the next. The transformation of images must be a smooth, continuous flow as in film -create a character entirely by yourself. Develop and elaborate in detail its reactions. Have it speak, follow its psychological life -the time may come at any moment when your image becomes so powerful that you will be unable to resist the desire to incorporate it, to act it -when such a desire flares up, do not resist, but act freely for as long as you wish Exercise: Incorporation -imagine a simple movement. Raising arm, getting up, taking an object. Study in imagination. Then fulfill it. Imitate it as faithfully as you can, until satisfied that you have copied it -repeat until the body obeys even the slightest detail you imagined -continue exercise with more complicated movement and business -apply same approach to a character in a play. Develop image, with voice, feelings, movements. Then try to incorporate as fully as you can. Speak a few words -this exercise will gradually establish those fine connections so necessary to linking of your vivid imagination with your body, voice, psychology. Your means of expression will thus become more flexible and obedient to your commands -may begin with one feature at a time. Instead of incorporating whole image at once. Gradually develop character -make additions of happenings in reality into imaginary scene (I.e. partner, stage business) Exercise: Concentration on Visible Objects -start by looking at an object. Describe it to yourself inwardly. Concentrate attention on it. Try to acquire continuity of attention. As you focus, do not miss any qualities or details. Avoid gaps and continue -try with an audible object

Exercise: Concentration of Imaginary Objects -concentrate on anything (object, sound) Now imagine and concentrate on fantastic objects (flowers, beings). Imagine noises (storms, crowds) -try for fantastic images Exercise: Concentrate by Merging -concentrate again on visible and imaginary objects. Inwardly embrace object. Grasp object, send out whole inner being toward it. Experience connection with object in body. Let whole being participate in embrace -this will lead to a sense of merging with the object. Releasing any physical tension. Concentration is an inner event. Remain free and unrestrained in body Exercise: Concentration with Business -proceed with previous explorations. When fully merged with objects, start to move around and perform other small business -try to retain inner bonds. That connects you to object through concentration -similar to actively waiting for an event or person for a few days Atmospheres and Individual Feelings Exercise: Atmospheres -imagine the air around you filled with the atmosphere that you have chosen -no more difficult that imagining the air filled with light, dust, fog -you must simply try it practically -your first effort will show immediately how simple it is -you must learn to sustain the imaginary atmosphere that envelopes you -after sustaining it, try to relate the reaction inside you to that of the imaginary atmosphere outside -the whole purpose will be lost if you impatiently impose the reaction upon yourself, instead of letting it grow freely -gradually it will penetrate deeper and deeper into the realm of your emotions Exercise: Atmospheres (2) -imagine feelings spreading around you filling the air -listen to them as you would listen to music -now speak and move within the atmosphere -start with simple movements and a few words, trying to establish full harmony with atmosphere -the harmony will be achieved much easier if you avoid any attempts to perform -strive for harmony sincerely and honestly for sake of harmony itself no showing -your body should be permeated with the atmosphere -develop more complicated speeches and movement -soon you will reach a point where the movements will intensify rather than diminish the atmosphere -can strengthen result by radiating inner life that has been awakened Action with Qualities Exercise: Qualities -make simple movements and business move your hands and arms in different directions, then get up or sit down. Cross the room, take up different things, move them, and so forth. Make the same movement several times with different Qualities calmly, fiercely, thoughtfully, angrily, hastily, staccato, legato, painfully, decidedly, slyly, willfully, rigidly, softly, soothingly -go on doing simple exercise until feelings begin to respond to the chosen qualities. Then combine your movement and business with one or several words. The chosen Qualities must color equally both business and speech

Exercise: Gestures and Qualities in Nature -start with simple observations. Look at, or imagine forms of different plants and flowers. What gestures do these forms conjure before me? Combine them also with qualities -for instance, a cypress streams upward (Gesture) and has a quiet, positive, concentrated character (Quality); whereas the old many branched oak, rising upwards and sideways (Gesture) will to speak to us of a violent, uncontrolled broad character (Quality); The violet peeps out of its surrounding leaves (Gesture) tenderly, confidently, questionally (Quality); whereas the tiger lily thrusts out of the earth (Gesture) aggressively, persistently, passionately, almost shouting at us (Quality). Each leaf, stone, rock, remote mountain range, cloud, brook, wave, will speak to us about Gesture and Qualities that are contained in them -through such observations alone, you will awaken in yourself, a living feelings also for each element of stage construction. You will see different gestures, the interplay of powers, and Qualities in staircases, doors, windows, pillars, walls, etc -while exercising you must try to do the same acting, being inside the forms you are observing -then try to make your hands and arms the gesture that will express for you what you have experienced as Gestures and Qualities in different forms -make this Gesture several times, until you, come to the point where your Will and Feelings will echo each gesture -make real effort final results should not be forced -be patient and persistent in your work Exercise: Gestures with Qualities -train yourself to make certain Gestures with the utmost expressiveness as fully and completely as you can. They might express drawing, pulling, pressing, lifting, throwing, crumpling, touching, brushing away, opening, closing, breaking, taking, giving, supporting, holding back, scratching -you can produce each of these gestures with different qualities: violently, quietly, surely, carefully, staccato, legato, tenderly, lovingly, coldly, angrily, cowardly, superficially, painfully, joyfully, thoughtfully, energetically -suggested movements must not become a kind of acting. Must avoid pretending - try to adjust yourself to handle imaginary heavy object more skillfully -your movements must maintain a pure, ideal, archetypal form -unnecessary complications and acting additions will weaken results -each movement must be as broad as possible, so that your whole body and the space around you will be used to the fullest degree. The tempo in which you produce your movement must be moderate, and after each movement come to the repetition of it without haste -exercise must be done with full, inner activity, and you must not strain your muscles and body as you produce properly wide, broad, but beautifully executed movements -these experiences will revive your body so that later on while producing smaller Gestures you will always feel as though your body need not necessarily move -you Will will not react in the movements if they do not occupy and electrify your body -another benefit is the development of the ability to manage your body more freely than before Exercise: Repeat in Imagination only -perform Gestures and Qualities again -perhaps you will improve them now, making them simple but stronger and more expressive -do each of them as many times as necessary to call forth Will and Feelings -then go on doing them, but only in your imagination, remaining outwardly immobile. See that your Will and Feelings react upon the imaginary Gesture as they reacted upon the real one -if result is not satisfactory, get back to previous exercise alternating between visible and invisible, and wait patiently for result

-if done with same energy, result will show itself Character and Characterization Exercise: Imaginary Body and Center -think of any form of an imaginary body. Think of your own body as being inside of it -arbitrarily put imaginary Center anywhere in body -visualize them as clearly as possible -give them any qualities you wish -center can be imagined freely without limitations; as large, small, changing in size, movable, swinging, revolving, departing, approaching -go back and forth between Body and Center to create the psychology of the character -now try to move in character. Do this until you feel entirely free in it -improvise words and business -make slight adjustments in Body and Center which will result in the psychology of the character Exercise: Body and Center (2) -choose a character from a play. Imagine character. When it becomes clear, follow from path of psych to Body and Center. When character becomes clear, incorporate it bit by bit Exercise: Invent Characters -have task of creating five different characters in half an hour, one after another. Try to make each as rich and full as you can in short period of time -find Bodies and Centers. Find speech and typical actions -repeat exercises day after day, once a day, until able to do it easily. -do not elaborate on characters, leave them in sketchy form The Higher Ego and Creative Individuality Exercise: Improvising Business -choose some very simple business, like cleaning a room, finding a lost article, setting the table -repeat this action at least twenty times. Each time avoid repetition of any kind -do each action in a new way with a fresh inner approach -keep only the general business as a spine for the exercise -will develop originality and ingenuity, and will awaken courage or your own individual approach to act -will be able to improvise quite freely at all times -you will discover gradually that the real beauty of our art, if based on the activity of the C.I., is constant improvisation The Psychological Gesture Exercise: PG Sensitivity -assume the demonstrated PG of calmly closing yourself -find a corresponding sentence perhaps I wish to be left along -rehearse both sentence and gesture simultaneously. You will notice quality of restrained will and calmness in psych and voice. Then start making slight alterations in the PG -incline head downward, notice changes that affect you (perhaps insistence, stubbornness). Continue until you are in harmony with new PG -do a new alteration. Bend right knee, transferring weight to left leg (nuance of surrender) -lift hand to chin (surrender increases, with unavoidability and loneliness) -throw head back and close eyes (pain and pleading qualities) -turn palms outward (self defense). Incline head to one side (self-pity) -with each alteration speak same sentence (remember only few examples, possibilities are limitless)

-always be free in interpreting all the gestures with their alterations. The slighter the change in your gesture, the finer the sensitivity that will develop in you -continue this exercise until whole body the position of your head, shoulders, neck, the movements of your arms, hands, fingers, elbows, torso, legs, feet, the direction of your sight will awaken in you psychologically corresponding reactions -experiment with tempos find a new sentence to correspond with each tempo -this exercise on sensitivity will, also greatly increase the sense of harmony between your body, psychology and speech. Developed to a high degree, you should be able to say, I feel my body and my speech as a direct continuation of my psychology. I feel them as visible and audible parts of my soul -as you act you will begin to notice that the PG is somehow ever present in the back of your mind. It helps and leads you like an invisible director, friend and guide who never fails to inspire you when you need inspiration most. It preserves your creation for you in a condensed and crystallized form -the PG is the scaffolding of your part and it must remain your technical secret Exercise: Extracting PG -the aim of this exercise is two fold. First, we are to develop sufficient skill in extracting the PG from the imagination. Second, we shall learn to distinguish between the preparatory PG and the gestures the actor might use while acting (always keep in mind the PG has nothing to do with various gestures the actor might use on the stage while rehearsing or performing) -take any play, imagine it, without choosing any part for yourself. Continue until it becomes a living performance for you. Fix attention on moments that seem significant or expressive. Concentrate on character that appears central in moment you have chosen. Ask character to act for you, try to see what the character is aiming at, what is his wish, his desire? Try to penetrate the what by means of image alone. As soon as you make a guess as to what the character is doing, try to find most simple PG. Do it physically, looking at image at the same time -improve PG in simplicity and expressiveness by exercising it -the character must only act in terms of the play. Hamlet for instance, can sit motionless in a throne. But Hamlets PG might be a large, slow, heavy movement with both arms and hands, from above downward toward the earth. Now try to act and speak like the character having the PG only in the back of your mind -do the PG and the acting alternatively, until it becomes evident to you that behind each internal state or movement in acting is hidden a simple and expressive PG that is the essence of acting -the PG will appear before your minds eye, and after being practiced will always remain with you as a kind of inspiration while you are acting. While exercising the PG you may use Qualities as well, which will make your exercises more pleasant and beneficial Exercise: Applying PG to a Speech -select a section of text from a play. -begin by finding the main dynamic. Listen inwardly to you characters lines and intuitively seek the possible PG that may be hidden behind them. Look for characteristic gesture -after the actor begins to practice this PG, the power and the character will appear while he is speaking the lines, making it colorful and strong -the how, the artistic side of the speech, comes into the foreground. The plain meaning, the what of the word, will never be lost, since the actor understands what the author speaks about, but the how will suffer greatly if the actor does not build it on the basis of a dynamic Gesture with its demonstrative qualities -the actor exercises the Gesture as long as is needed to stir his inner life. The PG becomes for him a kind of first, rough, charcoal draft for the future picture, after which all the details will gradually emerge and cover the initial sketch -having completed this preparatory stage, the actor finds a few characteristic leading words in the speech and pronounces them while making the PG

Exercise: Speech (2) -the best way to rehearse words of speech is: At first, execute the Gesture without words, then the Gesture with words together, and finally, only words without Gesture. The strength and all the qualities of the Gestures are thus poured into words and become audible Exercise: Transitions -choose two simple contrasting psychological moments of a play. One can be the word yes spoken with wrath and power, the other the word no spoken softly and full of pleading. -begin acting first part knowing only what the finale will be -allow your soul to make a free transition from one pole to the other -start with a very short Transition, and allow soul to make a free and unbroken Transition -then repeat exercise many times, trying to extend duration of Transition as much as you can -dont hesitate to grieve and to smile, to curse and to love, to implore and to command, to doubt and to believe. -the more polarized your starting and final points are, the better Exercise: Sensitivity -choose any PG, but do not define its quality. Also choose a sentence to be performed -execute the gesture and try to guess the qualities than can be aroused by gesture itself -now speak the sentence so that it sounds in harmony with the Gesture and its Qualities -do this several times Exercise: Sensitivity (2) -from the beginning you may only feel general qualities -now repeat same PG, but in a slightly changed manner. This change will bring certain nuances your previous Qualities. -exercise this Gesture and the sentence until you can feel them freely. -do the first variation and then the second one. Compare them and appreciate the difference -proceed to next change. Listen inwardly to this new nuance. Let these qualities enter into sentence. -exercise them and compare with previous ones Exercise: Qualities in Natural Positioning -choose any naturalistic position (lean with both hands on a table, sit in a chair with head resting in hands, lean on your back against the wall, lie on couch with hands under you neck etc) -take any position without realizing what their psychological meaning may be. Then holding the position, try to define what is expressed in it. What Qualities might be hidden in such a position? What inner activity might have brought you to such a state? -this psychological activity with the Qualities you have discovered must be continued inwardly by you. -concentrate completely on the radiation of the discover activity with Qualities, and do it until you feel that your inner strength grows, that the position in absolutely yours and that you can at any minute begin to improvise, starting from this position of yours -then begin to improvise, continuing the position. You may speak words and do things freely, without any limitations. -continue for a while, then take another position